Essential Voices USA conductor Judith Clurman started work on her CD, Cherished Moments: Songs of the Jewish Spirit, several years ago, but the project really began when she was a little girl in synagogue.

The defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was quickly interpreted by national media as a signal that immigration reform was dead on arrival. But for immigration reform advocates, the strategy has not changed.

The message this sends to other Republicans in Congress (both House and Senate) is that this can happen to anyone. The fear this is going to create may become all-encompassing in the House, and possibly even the Senate (if Republicans win control of the chamber this November). The Tea Party sword hanging over their heads is now plain to see.

Many volunteers also carry their own stories, leaving behind families, professions and busy lives when the dispatch call arrives. Internationally renowned Israeli cantor, Shlomo Glick of Jerusalem is one of those volunteers.

Yesterday (Oct 15), more than 70 prominent religious leaders joined with locked-out federal workers in a pilgrimage on Capitol Hill to urge an immediate end to the government shutdown and urgent passage of laws to prevent a default on the U.S. debt.

Looking back over the last six months or so, the most striking development in American politics is not the reelection of the president or the relative status quo in Congress, it is the virtual disintegration of the Republican Party.